Modern Vespa

Hi,

I have a new (to me) BV350 with 870 miles on it. The ABS light is permanently on which I know is not a good sign.

The scooter is still under warranty so I will bring it to the dealer. The problem is that they don't have any time to look at it before the end of April...

Is it a problem to drive it without the ABS functioning? I understand that the brake will perform "normally" but are they any risk of damaging the system?

I am coming from a Vespa GTS250 without ABS and I know how to drive. So it is not really a question of safety for me more than a question of risk for the scooter.

Thanks to all

I am unaware of a risk to the vehicle if you continue to ride it with the light on. Of course you should expect that you may not have ABS and the brakes may be able to lock. Also, you may want to check tire pressure as I seem to recall that low pressure can somehow trigger the light.
JEB

Thanks.

My front wheel pressure is ok and I know that the rear wheel pressure is a little too low (32 psi instead of 34.8 psi) because my tire inflator cannot go above 32 psi. I guess that a difference of 2psi would not cause the light to go on.

If weather permit, I will drive cautiously until my appointment with the dealer.

That should be related to the traction control light, not the ABS light...

Did you ever check the brake fluid levels in the front and rear brake master cylinders?

Burt, low tire pressure could set off either light. As I understand them, both systems rely on a programmed algorithm. Changes in tire pressure can cause either or both tire speeds to be outside of what the computer understands and set off the light. I. Not saying it happens every time, was only helping to troubleshoot why the light could be on with an otherwise new scoot. Also, I get funky lights when my battery gets low.
JEB

I guess it was done during the first control by the dealer (600 miles). But I didn't check that personally (I wouldn't not know how to do that)

In any case, I will bring the scooter to the dealer to check everything.

I just wanted to be reassured to know if I could ride the scooter (without making the situation worse) despite the lights on

Barrett, in plain English..

You will never get the ABS light to come just because of a flat tyre!

The ABS only check that the sensor rings never stops when the vehicle is in movement (most do come on only after a certain speed)

You will get the ASR light to come on with a largely deflate or flat tyre!

The traction control or ASR does check that both sensor rings are spinning at the same rotational velocity, if they don't, traction control by the mean or removing the spark at the plug will act...

While they share the same metal perforated ring and a variation of sensors based on the age and the price of the system to perform their reading, they have nothing to do with each other.. You can have a faulty ASR and still a perfect ABS or vice versa, unless you have a damage sensor or rings (dirt in the magnetic pickup sometimes act as a broken ring) in which case you will lose both feature.

To trigger the ASR with the tyre pressure, that is not helped by the fact the Vespa uses different tyre size, you still need to create a large difference between the diameter of the wheels, so that the sensor rings rotation doesn't mach any longer..

The rear wheel ring and sensor on the Vespa is also shared by the speedometer..

You can search online for all this stuff...

Straight from google...

Here are 14 reasons why the ABS and traction control lights come on:

ABS module failure
Computer issues
Blown fuse
Dysfunctional wheel-speed sensor
Low tire pressure
A defective steering angle sensor
Low brake fluid
Faulty steering rack
Defective pump and valve
Bad wheel alignment
Dirt and debris
Low battery voltage
Limp mode
Turned-off Traction control